Aliefka

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loosen, fix or glue

published on: 17.05.2015 in: All entries

My son shuffles cards and is trying to force them into a neat pack but the cards are jutting out in various angles. Much to his annoyance. I show him that he is to loosen his grip. To let the batch of cards slip between both hands, but in a controlled way. Gently tap the […]

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secrets are like sand

published on: 02.05.2015 in: All entries

I told someone a secret the other day. Four people before that. Ten, in total maybe. I told them not to tell anyone. I want to believe they won’t. Betrayal comes in many forms though: You can tell someone a secret and instantly feel how their opinion of you has changed. Recently, a man told […]

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here we come again

published on: 01.05.2015 in: All entries

The members of the camping and caravaninning club all meet for games and bingo in the evenings. Most are from England and their average age is 65. Their faces are worn and torn, their bellies bloated, the hips wide and legs marked with varicose veins. Life has marked them. And now they are here, in […]

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everything trying

published on: 24.04.2015 in: All entries

You listen to a song about how two people find each other after having drifted apart. I will sail back to you, he sings, she sings. You too believe you will return to each other and you hold on. But something goes wrong and a few months later you listen to the same song. I […]

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voicing the past

published on: 14.04.2015 in: All entries

As my speech is impaired, I often contemplate the meaning of it. Countless metaphors apply to the voice. From listening to the inner one to developing a unique one in writing. I am reading the Bible to my son. Not because I believe in God, but because I believe in stories and it seems the […]

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blanket

published on: 06.04.2015 in: All entries

I gave my son a new blanket for his birthday. He always wakes up a lot earlier than I do, then sits under his old blanket and watches TV. The old pink blanket is synthetic as he’s allergic for almost anything you can think of. It has burn holes in it from when he hung […]

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people

published on: 26.03.2015 in: All entries

Instead of blossom there is rain. My mind is full of work and I am late for a dinner. I am not here, but back and over there, somewhere, all over the places in my head. I turn a corner on my bike. I slip and fall. My head, shoulder and knee on the street, […]

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all alone in the crowd

published on: 25.03.2015 in: All entries

She comes up next to me on her bike. We wait for the traffic light to turn green. Bikes in front of us, bikes behind us, bikes all around. She has pulled her red scarf over her face. Entirely, even over her eyes. It’s not that cold. She leans over her steering wheel, pushes her […]

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how to flirt

published on: 27.02.2015 in: All entries

Recently, friends have been telling me I should write a ten-step book on “How to Flirt (the old school way).” They think I’m good at that. I’d rather be good at other things, like connection. It had me thinking about what it is I do when I meet someone. Indeed, I tend to touch someone […]

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three steps and a lifetime apart

published on: 14.02.2015 in: All entries

My mother and I casually lean against the kitchen counter. She pours wine, I chop and cut. Sip, lean, chat about this, that and the other. She offers unasked for advice on how to deal with an issue I’m facing. Now’s the time, is what I think. Right now. I’d been holding back on a […]

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